1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for the dehumidification and drying of damp structures.
The open circulation of water within a damp wall e.g. of a building due to the osmotic pressure proceeds from the lower end of the wall upwards and at the upper end the water is led towards the outside by evaporization thereof. It is known that this transport of water generates an electrical field extending in the direction of the rising dampness. This electric field acts as a pump.
The influence of the electrical fields existing in a damp wall of a building structure onto the flowing liquid is that great that a safe elimination of such electrical fields leads to a tangible reduction of the rising water or dampness, respectively, in such wall structure. The dynamic of the transport of the water is controlled decisively in that at an upper end of the wall a larger volume of water is evaporated than enters into the wall from below, which obviously leads to an elimination of a formation of large masses of the transported liquid.
It is known that the rising of the dampness from the ground in a capillary arrangement is bound to several physical causes which however are hardly measureable. It is, furthermore, known since a considerable time that streams of water extending below the ground surface and certain superpositions further below in the ground (so-called irritant areas) cause physical changes at ground level and in the ambient air.
Conclusively, a mean gradient height or hydraulic height of the ground water within the ground generates a considerable potential gradient of the field formed thereby. On the other hand it has been possible to measure above certain ground areas, at the irritation strips abnormal effects of the conductivity of the ground and extraordinary maximum values of the resistance of the ground, which measurements have been repeatedly made.
Quite obviously such electro-physical changes existing at ground surface will influence at least locally the electro-physical procedures in a wall structure as well as the concentration of ions in the air. Accordingly, in the region of water streaming below the surface electrical and magnetic fields are generated which vary strongly regarding force and intensiveness. The influence of electromagnetical fields having predetermined frequency ranges on the water such to alter its electrical conductivity can be a further influencing factor regarding the dampening of wall structures due to the rising moistness from the ground.
During the past years it has been proven in practice that rising ground dampness has almost in every case been connected with abnormal electrical and magnetical field forces within and above ground. Therefore, it has been a general object to decrease decisively specifically these abnormal forms of fields in addition to the difference of potentials in the capillary system of the wall structure as well as of the concentration of the ions in the air.
2. Description of the Prior Art
All hitherto known methods for drying building structures are based commonly on a principle of an elimination of electrical fields existing in such damp building structures or on the formation of electrical counter-fields by means of so-called electro-osmotic methods, respectively. Further methods suggest to use so-called dipoles or electrical conductors which must be inserted into the walls and necessitate partly considerable structural changes thereof. All these known methods and devices, however, incorporate basically the same drawback, in that the electrodes must always be inserted into the wall structure in accordance with a predetermined pattern or arrangement. For instance, a plurality of electrical conductors made of different metals with differing potentials of the electrochemical series have been arranged in so-called tracer planes extending relative to each other parallel over each other, which conductors have been interconnected electrically.
Other apparatuses of different constructions have been made for the same purpose. As a rule, they are operated by an electrical battery or are provided with a connection to the lighting means of the respective building. These apparatuses have in common the drawback that they must be positioned close to the electrical outlets in the building or then in that extensive and expensive connecting lines must be provided. Furthermore, there is the danger that they get charged themselves within a relative short time span or that they are destroyed by corrosion. Usually the range of action or range of influence, respectively, of all these known apparatuses is limited to a few meters only, such that it is necessary to position in larger buildings at least two or more such apparatuses. A further decisive drawback is that all hitherto known apparatuses operate in only one single predetermined direction, i.e. they must be positioned exactly according to the polarity in a north-south direction and must be positioned, furthermore, at the intersection of the streams of water flow; otherwise they will not operate at all.